Still stubborn, still running

In case you missed it, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, after a fifth-place finish in Iowa and a faster-than-a-blink reassessment of his campaign prospects, is still in the presidential race. I argued last week that Perry should quit and come home. His recent actions just confirm that conclusion.

Yes, there’s actually some thinking — flawed, I’d argue — behind Perry’s decision. It’s predicated on Perry being the last non-Mitt-Romney candidate left standing in the GOP field late in the primary season. He’s reasoning, not unreasonably, that just as every candidate the polls have anointed has withered under intense media scrutiny, so will Rick Santorum and Ron Paul, the two non-Romneys who came out strongest from the Iowa caucuses. Perry is banking that he will still be able to raise and spend enough money than the other non-Romneys through June and that GOP voters, already indicating qualms about Romney, will go with the last standing alternative.

First, I’m not sure he can sustain this spending if he gets similar drubbings in New Hampshire and South Carolina, no matter how deep the Texas pockets are.

But here’s where the doubling down arises. Just from his last debate appearances — much steadier than before, by the way — and another action, it appears Perry’s strategy involves highlighting even more than before what makes him different. Essentially, this involves proving he is to the right of a field already very right. The problem: Those things he is highlighting will likely make him even less electable in November.

Consider: In Saturday’s debate before Tuesday’s New Hampshire debate, Perry double downed on at least two points — Iraq and religion. On Iraq, he announced his stunningly stupid conclusion that the United States should send troops back into that country to thwart Iran. He also reiterated his previous claim that the Obama administration is waging a war on religion.

Let’s see: Nearly 4,500 U.S. soldier deaths — and far more Iraqi civilians — in a war begun on the lie of weapons of mass destruction, a popular U.S. withdrawal last month and Perry, who also wants to shield the Pentagon from the budget cuts that will afflict the rest of the budget, wants us to go back. I wonder, governor, how many American lives do you think will be lost if we do? To stymie Iran, a country weakened and reeling under sanctions that are probably about to get tougher? The United States, after its invasion, owed Iraqis a chance to build their own nation. We can’t do it for them.

And about that war on religion. The governor is mostly equating moves and statements by the administration on gays as war on religion. The problem: Even most of his GOP colleagues at least give lip service to some empathy for gays and lesbians, even if they won’t go the gay marriage route. Perry essentially goes all fire and brimstone on the topic, a move that may play to the tea-vangelist base but won’t get any traction in a general election.

But here’s the most egregious example of doubling down. He’s named Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio his Arizona campaign chairman. A Justice Department report recently condemned Arpaio’s office for discriminating against Latinos generally in his well-publicized campaign against undocumented immigrants. Perry is doing this to prove his anti-immigrant bona fides after coming under intense criticism for favoring in-state tuition for Texas children of undocumented immigrants.

When the Arpaio report came out, Perry pretty much rallied around the sheriff. Earlier, Arpaio had endorsed him. I’ve worked in Arizona and know Arpaio. He’s a vainglorious, opportunistic publicity hound who doesn’t much care what china he breaks to get folks to worship at his feet. He has become a polarizing, loathsome figure in his state and in the nation. And this is the guy Perry has chosen as his go-to Arizona guy.

If Perry goes the distance — is still in the race come June — it will be a testament to his ability to spend and lingering reservations among Republicans about Romney. But there’s the thing: If Perry does manage this sustainability, the media spotlight will return to him. He didn’t come out well under the previous scrutiny. With the stakes higher, this new scrutiny will be on steroids and he will not come out smelling any prettier even if he has polished up his debate skills.